"One thing at a time"

It is 3:30 AM in the call room at the hospital in nashville. The day and the evening went quite busy and I am sitting down feeling the need to unwine, instead of going to bed. When I feel so exhausted, nothing is more soothing than good music. So I decided to listen to some of my son's recent performances. Then I realized that I never finished editing and uploading something I intended to do last week. So, here is the Sunday morning playing from a few weeks ago when Erik was so honored to be invited to play for our friend's church. I often hear friends ask, or comment, "You must be proud". What I feel as a mother is actually very complex. More often, I feel incredibly humbled by it all. It amazes me that someone blessed us with a sweet boy,,, I also always have this sense that it is not for me to hold onto just for me or for us, it is meant for giving back. I enjoy sharing the music he enjoys with others around us. I hope he would know, how much, Just how much I per...

What can I say, except, Indeed He is Risen. I am grateful for the love Erik has for the hymns and the time he takes to practice hymns like this out of his regular piano studies. I have been blessed to have music that thrills my soul, at no admission fee, and live! while in the comfort of my home.

When I go abroad not knowing what kind of encounter is waiting for me, I am almost always met with a nice surprise that tells me that I do not go anywhere alone. Last october, my trip to South Africa gave me a special hour with a Zulu nurse leader who invieted me to have my personal tour of the city. When she discovered that we share the faith, she was amazed at best but more than that she could not wait to spend a personal time with me. She drove me in her car and we sang hymns while we were on the road... I always find it exciting to look for the surprise that is sent from above. I just returned from a week in Japan participating in a disaster relief team made up of various health care professionals. I was one of the 4 Japanese who joined the team on March 30th from the US. There were about 20 of us all together (click the photo above). Another one of the 4 was a nurse from Los Angels. By the way, if you click the photo, you would be directed to the picasa album that was also posted ...

I just returned from Japan after spending a week working with precious people volunteering for the needy areas affected by the disaster. I would like to share my photo album, which only describes a fraction of the work that is being done by many volunteers, or a fraction of the needs that are identified. If you click the photo above, you will arrive at my album that shows some of the activities. Even though the photos do not do justice, seeing is believing. The recovery would be a long one. The people are patient and tough in Tohoku area. It is difficult to determine whether the Japanese government has been able to do all that they could possibly do. Well ,they rejected several offers of foreign help for reasons, I have a difficult time understanding. They agreed to have the Israeli team come but the Israeli capacity and their ability was rather limited to only a certain area. The Israeli facility is by far superior to any Japanese facilities that are in the area at this point. The ...

I shared with you about a week ago that Dr. H from Iwaki (Fukushima prefecture, about 30 KM from the Nuclear Plant) shared the difficulty he is going through at his hospital while he was delivering care to the neonates in an environment with limited resources with the impending nuclear thread growing. His hospital since transported several infants to other facilities but he is sticking to one patient who is too unstable to transport. We received a mail through the neonatal list serve yesterday with a story of unforgettable 4 lives. Unforgettable 4 lives. Dr. H expresses that he is clearly distraught at the time of writing and that he wishes the others who are in the neonatal medicine/nursing would be able to identify with his thoughts. He took care of a trisomy 13 infant sometime ago who stayed at this NICU nearly a year and was discharge home to continue the medical care at home. Trisomy 13 is a chromosomal condition that is often not consistent with life but this infant waas able to...

いわき共立病院の本田先生が大変悲しい御体験をシェアして下さいました。悲しい家族の体験は今の日本のあちらこちらから、聞こえてきます。新生児NPの私に取って、先天性疾患の赤ちゃん、生まれて、短い命を閉じられる赤ちゃんを見て来て、どのような赤ちゃんも特別な贈り物をお母さんの胸にのこして行くと思っていました。この先生のお書きになった内容に大変胸を打たれました。 メーリングリストの皆様 いわき共立の本田です。投稿するべき内容ではないと思いますが投稿します 取り乱していますので、間違いなく支離滅裂の内容になると思いますが、ご容赦くだ さい １年間のNICU入院生活の後に、在宅人工呼吸器で退院された１３トリソミーの赤ちゃ んがいました ４月から養護学校入学予定でした ３歳の弟がいます。 お母さんは妊娠中で、その子の入学式に出席されるために３月２８日を帝王切開予定 にしていました。 津波が来て祖母とお子様二人、お母さんが流されました。 お母さんは二人のお子さんを抱え妊娠中でもあったため、避難が遅れたようです 母親は子供二人を抱きかかえた まま離さず、流されてお亡くなりになりました 本日、その１３トリソミーの赤ちゃんが見つかり荼毘に付したとお父さんが報告にい らしてくれました。 下のお子さんは、いまだに行方不明です。 私見ですが、寝たきりの１３トリソミーの赤ちゃんを置いて、３歳の子と二人なら逃 げられたのかもしれません。そのように考える私は綺麗ごとを言っても、しょせん偏 見の塊であることを 認めなければなりません。母親の愛は、理屈でしか物事の価値を判断できない私の ちっぽけな心をはるかに凌駕しています 生まれてきた命にはすべて同じ価値がある、そんなことを言う資格は私にはありませ ん。それを実践された家族にのみ許された言葉だと思います しかし、その家族の気持ちをたくさんの人に伝えることはできます。それがこれから の私の使命だと思います 母親は理屈抜きに全ての子供に同じように命がけで愛情を持つ、この母親の気持ちを すべての周産期関係者に知っていただきたいと思います お父さんが伝えていかれた言葉は NICU入院中はかなり厳しい経過もありましたが、助けていただいて、ありがとうござ いました 生まれた時は、足が震えて、「この子からは、子供を持った喜びは、もらえないんで はないか」と感じたこと ...

Precious time with your child is a treasure you would never regret having. You want to stop the world if it was going to give you valuable time with your family to enjoy. This past Thursday, I kept my prior commitment to my son's school and spent 4 hours judging the Elementary Social Studies Fair. Yes, there was a long list of things to do but it was the priority to give back. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the children give their proud presentation on various research topic from Coca Cola to Benjamin Franklin. GO! for the 3-5th graders who worked hard. Erik did not have any home work on Thursday afternoon for the first time in weeks..... He and I played tennis in front of our house for a little while and then moved to the tennis court at Erik's school later on. The weather was perfect as well as our spirit. Part of me that is feeling guilty about leaving my husband and my son during this time, the week of his spring break in order to participate in the disaster relief ef...